First Sight
by jlcleaumus
Summary: Short Story. Five year old Padme Naberrie has an encounter that will change her life forever.


First Sight

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Wars or any of the characters. George Lucas owns them.

Summary: Five-year-old Padme Naberrie meets someone that will change her life forever.

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* * *

"Are we there yet?" 

Five year old Padme Naberrie was restless. This was her first trip away from Naboo. When he wasn't teaching at the University, her father Ruwee volunteered his time to the Refugee Relief Movement. His work sometimes took him to the riskier parts of the galaxy, but on this occasion he felt that it was safe enough to bring his family along with him.

"Shut up, Padme! That's the millionth time you've asked that! I swear I'm going to throw you off this ship." Everything about her family irritated Sola at the moment, especially her loud little sister.

"Sola, that's no way to talk to your sister," chided her grandmother Winama.

"You're always taking her side! I'll talk any way I want to, and there's nothing you can do about it! You're not my mother!" The angry fourteen-year old stormed out before anyone could say another word to her. "I never even wanted to go on this stupid trip anyway," she mumbled.

Ruwee stepped into the room glumly. "Perhaps we should have let her stay home. She misses her mom."

"Ruwee, she can't stay sheltered for the rest of her life. Not like her mother."

He didn't like it when his mother criticized his wife. Jobal wasn't perfect, but Ruwee loved her deeply, including her idiosyncrasies. He kept quiet though. Winama didn't speak ill of her often, and she didn't have any ill intentions to her words either. It was better to let her statement go rather than object and create more tension in their family.

"When's the last time she left Naboo, anyway?"

Ruwee pondered the question for a few moments. "More than fifteen years ago, I think. Before Sola was born. We went to her sister's wedding on Corellia." He noticed the disapproving expression on his mother's face. "Jobal's happy where she is, mother. She has no urge to see new places, and I think our eldest daughter feels the same way. She's always been closer to her mother."

"She wants to be with the boy." Padme blurted out.

"Boy?" Ruwee didn't like this new revelation.

"I think Paddy's talking about Darred. He's a really nice boy from school."

"You've met him then?" Ruwee started pacing anxiously around the small room. Padme began to wonder if she made a mistake.

"She brought him home a few times after school to do homework. Jobal and I baked cookies for them. They're rather cute together, I think."

"So everyone knows about this boy except for me. Even Padme." Ruwee hid his smile. Though he didn't like the idea of Sola having a potential suitor, he was glad to see his mother and wife working together. Even if it was on a conspiracy against him.

"Are you going to validate our reasons for doing so right now, Ruwee?" Winama's eyes tore through her son. She was just as protective of Sola as Ruwee was, but she had been a young woman many years ago and sympathized with her granddaughter's plight. As long as she was also able to keep a wary eye on Darred.

"I guess not. I can't stop her from growing up. I was just hoping I could slow it down a little."

Padme sensed that the tension in the room had eased now, and wanted the attention on herself again. "I'm gonna go to every star and planet one of these days, Daddy, and I'm not gonna let some stinky boy stop me," she proclaimed proudly while looking out the window. As young as she was, she meant every word she said.

"I'd be very happy if you kept that promise," Ruwee said wryly, still concerned about a certain boy in Sola's life.

* * *

Sola wandered into the utility room of the vessel. No one would find her here. Maybe she could hide there throughout their entire stay at Alderaan. She found a dark corner in the room and pounded the floor in frustration as she sat down. Why didn't she have a say in whether she wanted to go or not? And that bratty Padme, always kissing up to their father and grandmother. Sola didn't think she had anything in common with that side of the family. Yawning, she moved to lie down and screamed when the pain blinded her. 

Everyone heard the bloodcurdling scream and rushed to find Sola. Padme ran faster than anyone else and was the first to check the utility room and find her sister crumpled on the floor, lying unconscious besides a loose wire from a droid. She yelled and soon their father and grandmother arrived.

* * *

"The nearest hospital is the Leoti Charity Station." Ruwee checked the coordinates again. "It's a space station that should be only a few minutes away once we emerge from hyperspace." He gave instructions to their navigation droid and tried to put on a brave face as he watched Winama was applying some emergency bacta patches on the worst of the Sola's burns in the med-room of the ship. "How's she doing?" 

"The external injuries aren't that bad, but her heartbeat's extremely abnormal right now. There's nothing we can do about that until we get to the hospital," Winama said as she softly stroked her granddaughter's hair. "At least she can't feel the pain right now.

Ruwee sat down and took Sola's hand in his. With his other arm he cradled Padme close to him. She seemed especially distraught and was stifling sobs every three or four seconds.

"It's my fault, daddy. I'm sorry. I made her mad and she got hurt." She held on tightly to her father.

"It's not your fault, Paddy." It tore Ruwee's heart apart to see one daughter in such physical pain and the other in a mental torment that no one her age ought to ever experience.

"It's no one's fault, Padme." Winama's soft and matronly voice seemed to reassure everyone in the room. Even Sola seemed to breathe easier as she whispered her words. "Some times bad things happen, and we can't do anything about it. We just have to accept what fortune fate brings us."

"Is she going to die, grandma?"

"I hope not." Winama made a silent decision to tell her granddaughter the truth. It would be cruel to lie to her with false hopes. "We're going to do our best to save her, and I'm sure the people at the hospital will too."

Padme didn't respond so Winama continued.

"Paddy, death is just a natural part of life. We're all going to die someday. That cannot be stopped. One of these days I'm going to die. So will your parents, so will you. Even the stars burn out and die."

It was a lot of information for a five-year-old to absorb, but Padme was much more perceptive and intelligent than others her age. And she understood what her grandmother was telling her.

"But there's something that never dies. Do you want to know what that is?" Padme nodded her head. "Love. Love lives forever. I love you, Padme, and so does your father and mother. Very much so. And our love for you will live on even after we die. Don't ever forget that." Seeing Padme's nod of understanding, Winama looked down at Sola. "Sola loved you, too. And I know you loved your sister very much. Nothing will ever take that love away, not even death."

* * *

Padme sat by herself in the hospital lobby ruminating over her grandmother's words. Her dad and Winama were talking with the doctors somewhere, and Sola was receiving intensive care in another wing. Padme was never a patient child, and it drove her crazy not to know how her sister was doing. Padme suddenly had a compulsion to find her. She wanted to tell Sola that she loved her before she died, if she was going to die. 

She ran in no particular direction. The hospital was a large building and within minutes Padme was lost. Now she was scared, not for herself, but that she would never see her sister again. She found a med-droid and wondered if it could help her.

"Excuse me, do you know where Sola Naberrie is." Except she spoke in such a panicked tone that the droid could not tell exactly what she said.

"Snie? Is that who you wanted to find?" It checked the databases. "There is no record of any Snie at this hospital, but there is a Shmi in Maternity Wing C, if that is who…" The droid looked up from his datapad, but the little girl had already ran out of patience and disappeared.

Padme continued to run down the hospital's corridors, peeking into each room for a glimpse of her sister. In her concentration didn't notice a group of healers scurrying down the same corridor until they almost ran into her. As she backed up against the wall to let them through she noticed that one of them was carrying what seemed like a baby and barely caught a few words of their conversation.

"…premature birth…"

"…had to sedate the mother…"

"…doesn't seem to be a father…"

"…the baby's in critical condition…"

"…need to put him on life support…"

Suddenly she forgot about her sister. Something about the group fascinated her, although her brain did not bother give her a reason. She thought about the baby. Everything dies, but it didn't seem fair for that fate to befall a baby. Padme started following the healers down the hallway, knowing that she had to know what happened to the newborn.

The healers took the baby into a room and in their frantic efforts did not notice a little girl sneak in after them. Padme did not avoid their attention on purpose, but she allowed herself to fade in the background of the room so as not to interfere with the healers doing their jobs. They finally left when they seemed satisfied of the baby's condition, and Padme felt a strange relief that she had never experienced before. There would be no more deaths today, she thought.

Curiosity then overtook her. She had never seen a newborn before and wondered what the baby was like, so she pulled a chair up to the crib and hopped onto it. The sight of the baby almost overwhelmed her with its peaceful innocence. She watched him sleep in oblivion and wondered if she was this cute when after she was born. The baby soon started to stir.

Padme lost her breath for a second when he opened his eyes for the first time in his life. She leaned over the crib and the two of them examined each other in quiet harmony, both fascinated by what they were seeing. Padme found herself lost in the baby's eyes. They were so blue, as blue as the most beautiful lakes of Naboo. They reminded her of home. She thought of her parents, Winama, and her sister. Seeing the wonder of life gave her a strange feeling of hope. Somehow she knew that Sola was going to be alright. Everything may die eventually, but not today. Today was a special day. Today was a celebration of the gift of life. There was going to be no death today.

The baby started to move its hands and arms, trying to figure out the mechanics of his body. One hand went up almost as if it was reaching for the little girl watching him. Padme took the hand and marveled at how small the fingers were, even when compared to hers. She looked back at the infant, who all of a sudden seemed to be smiling. Her hand then reached down as far as it could and landed softly on the baby's head. She let her fingers play with the soft wisps of hair on its head, hair of a beautiful blond color sullied occasionally by a few lighter shades of brown. Her actions seemed to have a tickling effect on the baby, who began to giggle. Padme laughed too.

Loud footsteps resonated in the hallway towards the room she was in and soon her father and grandmother paced in frantically accompanied by two droids.

"There you are! We've been worried sick about you. Where have you been?" Ruwee should've been cross at his daughter, but he didn't feel mad. There was no anger in him today, not after what happened. There was only relief.

Padme looked at the baby for one last time, and ran into the arms of her father. "Sola's going to be fine, right," she asked though she already knew the answer.

"Yes Paddy. She'll be fine. Everything is going to be alright. You gave us a scare, Paddy, but we found you. Everything is going to be alright," he repeated again.

Padme's thoughts suddenly came across another subject. "Daddy, can you buy me a baby for my next birthday?"

Both adults in the room laughed. "Maybe. But you should know that babies don't grow on trees."

"Where do they come from then?"

Ruwee gave his mother a look of horror. Thankfully, Winama had the situation under control.

"Have you ever heard of the stork? It's a magical bird that some say lives on the moons of Iego…"

Ruwee and Winama started to make their way out of the room and Padme eagerly followed them to whatever road fate would take them.

The End


End file.
